1972 Philadelphia Eagles season

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1972 Philadelphia Eagles season
OwnerLeonard Tose
Head coachEd Khayat
Home fieldVeterans Stadium
Results
Record2–11–1
Division place5th NFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1972 Philadelphia Eagles season was the franchise's 40th season in the National Football League. They failed to improve and declined on their previous output of 6–7–1, winning only two games.[1] The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the twelfth consecutive season.

Both of the Eagles' victories were one-point decisions on the road vs. AFC teams, 21–20 over the Kansas City Chiefs and 18–17 over the Houston Oilers, a victory which cost the Eagles the #1 selection in the 1973 NFL Draft. The meeting with the Chiefs was the last until 1992, and Kansas City did not come to Philadelphia until 1998.

Following the disastrous season, the third with three wins or fewer since 1968, general manager Pete Retzlaff resigned, and coach Ed Khayat was fired by owner Leonard Tose.

Offseason[edit]

The Eagles held training camp at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania. This was their last year there. The next year, they moved camp to Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, only 7 miles from Veterans Stadium where they played their home games in Philadelphia.

NFL Draft[edit]

The 1972 NFL Draft was held on February 1–2, 1972. The draft was 17 rounds and a total of 443 players were chosen.

The Eagles chose John Reaves, a quarterback from the University of Florida, with the 14th pick in the 1st round. They had the 14th pick in each of the 17 rounds. They chose 17 players in this year's draft.

The number 1 overall pick went to the Buffalo Bills, who chose Walt Patulski, a defensive end out of the University of Notre Dame. In the 2nd round with the 40th pick, the Atlanta Falcons took 1971 Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan,[2] a quarterback out of Auburn University

Player selections[edit]

The table shows the Eagles' selections and which picks they had that were traded away and the teams that ended up with those picks. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler [3] = Hall of Famer
Rd Pick Player Position School
1 14 John Reaves Quarterback Florida
2 37 Dan Yochum
Acquired Pick via Trade
Tackle Syracuse
2 40 Pick taken by Atlanta Falcons
3 66 Pick taken by New York Jets
3 68 Tom Luken
Acquired Pick via Trade
Guard Purdue
3 76 Bobby Majors Defensive back Tennessee
4 92 Po James Running back New Mexico State
5 118 Pick taken by Denver Broncos
6 144 Vernon Winfield Guard Minnesota
7 170 Will Foster Linebacker Eastern Michigan
8 196 Larry Ratcliff Running back Eastern Michigan
9 222 Pat Gibbs Defensive back Lamar University
10 246 John Bunting Linebacker North Carolina
11 274 Dennis Sweeney Defensive end Western Michigan
12 300 Don Zimmerman Wide receiver N.E. Louisiana
13 326 Preston Carpenter Defensive end Mississippi
14 352 Bill Overmeyer Linebacker Ashland
15 378 Tom Sullivan Running back Miami (FL)
16 404 Steve Bielenberg Linebacker Oregon State
17 430 Tom Nash Tackle Georgia

Roster[edit]

1972 Philadelphia Eagles roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists

{{{reserve_lists}}}


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season[edit]

On November 12, Tom Dempsey kicked six field goals in one game.[4]

Schedule[edit]

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 17, 1972 at Dallas Cowboys L 28–6 55,850
2 September 24, 1972 Cleveland Browns L 27–17 65,720
3 October 2, 1972 New York Giants L 27–12 65,720
4 October 8, 1972 at Washington Redskins L 14–0 53,039
5 October 15, 1972 Los Angeles Rams L 34–3 65,720
6 October 22, 1972 at Kansas City Chiefs W 21–20 78,389
7 October 29, 1972 at New Orleans Saints L 21–3 65,664
8 November 5, 1972 St. Louis Cardinals T 6–6 65,720
9 November 12, 1972 at Houston Oilers W 18–17 34,175
10 November 19, 1972 Dallas Cowboys L 28–7 65,720
11 November 26, 1972 at New York Giants L 62–10 62,586
12 December 3, 1972 Washington Redskins L 23–7 65,720
13 December 10, 1972 Chicago Bears L 21–12 65,720
14 December 17, 1972 at St. Louis Cardinals L 24–23 34,872

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game recaps[edit]

A recap of the scoring plays and the game scores by quarters during the year. The record after the team's name reflects this game's outcome also.[1]

Week 9[edit]

Sunday, November 12, 1972

Played at Houston Astrodome on AstroTurf in 72 °F or 22.2 °C indoors.

1 2 3 4 Total
Philadelphia Eagles (2–6–1) 6 9 0 3 18
Houston Oilers (1–8–0) 0 3 7 7 17
SCORING PLAYS PHI HOU
1st Eagles Tom Dempsey 33-yard field goal 3 0
Eagles Tom Dempsey 52-yard field goal 6 0
2nd Oilers Skip Butler 38-yard field goal 6 3
Eagles Tom Dempsey 22-yard field goal 9 3
Eagles Tom Dempsey 12-yard field goal 12 3
Eagles Tom Dempsey 38-yard field goal 15 3
3rd Oilers Dan Pastorini 1-yard rush (Skip Butler kick) 15 10
4th Eagles Tom Dempsey 20-yard field goal 18 10
Oilers Paul Robinson 30-yard rush (Skip Butler kick) 18 17

Week 11[edit]

Sunday, November 26, 1972

Played at Yankee Stadium on grass in 50 °F or 10 °C weather with a wind of 15 miles per hour or 24 kilometres per hour or 13 knots

NOTE: The game was not televised by CBS after striking International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers members cut the transmission cables in The Bronx.

1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q Total
Philadelphia Eagles (2–8–1) 3 7 0 0 10
New York Giants (7–4–0) 14 24 10 14 62
SCORING PLAYS PHI NYG
1st Giants Bob Tucker 15-yard pass from Norm Snead (Pete Gogolak kick) 0 7
Giants Ron A. Johnson 35-yard rush (Pete Gogolak kick) 0 14
Eagles Tom Dempsey 13-yard field goal 3 14
2nd Giants Joe Orduna 5-yard pass from Norm Snead (Pete Gogolak kick) 3 21
Giants Pete Gogolak 25-yard field goal 3 24
Giants Bob Tucker 29-yard pass from Norm Snead (Pete Gogolak kick) 3 31
Eagles Harold Jackson 77-yard pass from John Reaves (Tom Dempsey kick) 10 31
Giants Ron A. Johnson 1-yard rush (Pete Gogolak kick) 10 38
3rd Giants Pete Gogolak 29-yard field goal 10 41
Giants Don Herrmann 32-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Pete Gogolak kick) 10 48
4th Giants Don Herrmann 63-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Pete Gogolak kick) 10 55
Giants Randy Johnson 2-yard rush (Pete Gogolak kick) 10 62

Standings[edit]

NFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Washington Redskins 11 3 0 .786 7–1 10–1 336 218 L2
Dallas Cowboys 10 4 0 .714 6–2 7–4 319 240 L1
New York Giants 8 6 0 .571 5–3 7–4 331 247 W1
St. Louis Cardinals 4 9 1 .321 1–6–1 3–7–1 193 303 W2
Philadelphia Eagles 2 11 1 .179 0–7–1 0–10–1 145 352 L5

Postseason[edit]

At the end of 1972 season, head coach Ed Khayat was fired. Mike McCormack, a Washington Redskins assistant coach from 1965 to 1972, was hired in his place. Khayat was never an NFL head coach again, although he would be the head coach of the New Orleans Night of the Arena Football League in 1991.

Awards and honors[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "1972 Philadelphia Eagles Statistics & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  2. ^ Pat Sullivan, 1971 Heisman Trophy winner "Heisman Trophy". Heisman. Archived from the original on June 9, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2008.
  3. ^ Players are identified as Pro Bowlers if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
  4. ^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p.134